theSkyNet POGS: theSkyNet POGS project Update

Hi All,

We’re planning an upgrade for POGS in the next few months that will see us add more calculations to the suite already conducted on each galaxy image, add more data types (such as higher resolution images from the WISE telescope, http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/WISE/main/, which collects infrared light) and much, much more.

There are some big changes, and some smaller ones, included in the upgrade. We’ve given a short summary of everything below, but if you’d like any more specific detail or have questions then please let us know.

As part of the upgrades we intend to run some simulated galaxies through the upgraded POGS code as a check on the accuracy of our the data processing. These galaxy images are created by a computer to mimic certain characteristics. Once the fake galaxies are processed by the upgraded POGS ‘spectral energy distribution’ fit code, we can compare the results to the values we used when creating the galaxies to confirm the upgraded code works as expected and is producing accurate science results for the astronomers.

We’re also upgrading the data retrieval pipeline, continuing to get enhanced infrared images from the WISE telescope for all galaxies that have already been processed, as well as some more galaxy data from other new sources. This new data will broaden our results on the galaxies that have been already processed - helping the astronomers to see more of the bigger picture, so to speak.

Kevin and the team will also upgrade the input data processing pipeline as well. This will include improving the smoothing of input images. They will also develop ‘parameter prior cubes’, sets of values that should be used in calculations on each galaxy image. This will stop us calculating every possible combination of parameters on every galaxy — saving time and resources. This also means we will be changing the credit system from the current points-per-pixel based model, as with ‘priors’ all pixels are no longer equal. We will let you know when the credit change will occur and will do our best to make sure it’s equitable and results in approximately the same amount of credit you currently earn.

We will also be upgrading the output processing to produce better results images. This will include things like stellar masking (from catalogs, or directly from the images) to remove foreground stars from the calculations, and we also start using a code called ‘galfit’ (http://users.obs.carnegiescience.edu...it/galfit.html) to give a mass surface density of the galaxies (a new calculation) and also try another code called ‘CIGALE’ (http://cigale.lam.fr/) and others on the data.

All of this comes together to mean better science output from POGS - something we’re really keen on and we hope you are too!

--TheSkyNet Team

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It's great to see a project well run.

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Originally Posted by denim

It's great to see a project well run.

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That is so true my friend.